The publisher of one of the world's most famous fighting game series is hoping to hold on to "Mortal Kombat," despite what people inferred from a recent Chapter 11 filing.
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Yesterday, MTV Multiplayer readers voted for Capcom to buy the rights for "Mortal Kombat" from financially embattled publisher Midway.
They did this in reaction to recently released documents that identified the sale of the "MK" as a possible goal of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But a Midway spokesperson has told MTV Multiplayer that the company would prefer to hang on to the series.
"It's not our goal to sell 'Mortal Kombat,'" Midway spokesperson Geoff Mogilner told me. "It is something that, in the world of scenarios, it is something that could happen here. But it's not something that we as a company are going for."
The incentive plan -- detailed as Exhibit A attached to the 63rd document listed here -- includes clauses indicating financial rewards tied to the sale of the "Mortal Kombat" franchise or the continuation of Midway as a "going concern." No other franchises are discussed in this language, indicating that selling "MK" is seen as a particularly viable option as opposed to selling, say, "Joust."
So what kind of publisher interest is there?
Mogilner said that there are always "people who are interested in the 'Mortal Kombat' franchise," which he pegs at having done $1.5 billion in its history. Pressed on whether there have been conversations with other publishers since Midway's Chapter 11 filing, he said: "There are conversations for certain. I can't say whether this is something that would have happened otherwise. There's definitely interest in 'Mortal Kombat'. I'm not going to lie about that." He declined to elaborate on the nature of current interest from other publishers.
Regardless of whatever is happening with a possible sale of the franchise, Midway is at work on another installment of the game. "The MK team is hard at work designing a new engine," Mogilner said. "We keep working."
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